Mrs. Piozzi's Thraliana, with numerous extracts hitherto unpublished

110

Mrs. PlOZZrS

THRALIANA

By

Charles Hughes

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Cornell University Library
PR 3619.P5A83 1913
Mrs. Piozri's ThraHaria, with numerous ex

Cornell University
Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013195114

MRS. PlOZZrS THRALIANA

MRS. piozzrs

THRALIANA

WITH NUMEROUS EXTRACTS
HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED

BY

CHARLES HUGHES

J. p. FOR THH CITY OF VlANCHBSTER

EDITOR OF * Shakespeare's europb, unpublished chapters from

' FYNES MORVSON,' ' WILLOBIE HIS AVISA '
KNWETT'S 'the DEFENCE OF THE RBAI.MB, 1596'

Strange that a Woman should write such a book
as this ; put down every occurrence of her Life, every
Emotion of her Heart and call it a ' Thraliana ' for-
sooth — but then I mean to destroy it.

loth December, 1780.

LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL,

HAMILTON, KENT AND CO., LTD.

1913

ft

<"S

COPYRIGHT

"MRS. PlOZZrS THRALIANA."

np^HERE are two authorities for Dr. Johnson's
-*■ conversations and especially for his conver-
sations at Streatham who have a claim to be considered
by the side of Boswell. These are Miss Burney
afterwards Madame D'Arblay, and Mrs. Thrale
afterwards Mrs. Piozzi. Yet, I suppose, that Boswell
has been read by fifty persons for every reader of
Madame D'Arblay's Diary, and that Madame D'Arb-
lay has been read by at least fifty for every faithful
student who has read Mrs. Piozzi's books or the
two Volumes published in 1861 by Mr. Abraham
Hayward in which Mrs. Piozzi obtains a full hear-
ing, and in which were first published extracts from
" Thraliana." There were two editions of Mr.
Hay ward's work published in 1861. In the first a
large slice of " Thraliana " is inserted en masse, and
not properly incorporated with the work. It had

2 THRALIANA

evidently been received from Mr. Salusbury son of
Piozzi's nephew and owner of the precious MS. just
before publication. For the second edition a large
addition had been received from Mr. Salusbury con-
taining most intimate and vivid passages, and all
these and the preceding instalment of " Thraliana "
are incorporated in the first Volume. Without speak-
ing disrespectfully of Hayward's work, which was
carried out under great difficulties, it may be said
that the contributions of Mr. Salusbury far outweigh
in value the rest of the Volumes, as new and autho-
ritative matter interesting to the Johnson-Boswell
amateur.

They are absolutely necessary to anyone who
wishes to " see Boswell's Johnson steadily and see it
whole." Mr. Salusbury told Mr. Hayward that he
deemed "Thraliana of too private and delicate a
character to be submitted to strangers," and since he
supplied those "curious passages" in 1861 no more
of it has been published.

Mr. L. B. Seeley was allowed to use Hayward's
materials in his Life of Mrs. Thrale, and has recog-
nised the importance of the Thraliana extracts.

THRALIANA 3

They have also caused Mrs. Thrale's case with
regard to her marriage to be fairly stated by Sir
Leslie Stephen in his little book on Johnson in the
English Men of Letters Series, and in the Dictionary
of National Biography.

Those who have only read Boswell are quite
unable to understand Mrs. Thrale's position, and the
inevitable unfairness of Boswell with regard to her.
The unfairness was inspired not merely by literary
jealousy but by a personal grudge to one who had
known Johnson longer and more intimately and loved
him better. This is only a proof of the sincerity of
Boswell and in no respects affects the greatness of his
literary genius, which is the main cause of our per-
sonal interest in Johnson.

Thirty years ago I collected books relating to
Boswell's Johnson and have long looked upon
" Thraliana " as one of the few possible sources of
fresh human interest about the Johnson circle. It
was therefore a great pleasure and surprise to me to
have the opportunity of perusing " Thraliana " from
end to end. These six folio Volumes substantially
bound and lettered " Thraliana " each containing from

4 THRALIANA

250 to 300 pages were commenced on the 15th
September 1 776 by the following entry : —

" It is many years since Dr. Samuel Johnson
advised me to get a little book, and write in it all
the Anecdotes which might come to my knowledge,
all the Observations which I might make or hear, all
the verses never likely to be published and in fine
everything which struck me at the time. Mr. Thrale
has now treated me with a Repository, and provided
it with the pompous title "Thraliana." I must
endeavour to fill it with nonsense, new and old."

While Thraliana was at my house it was insured
against fire for JT ^000, nor could I say when I had
perused it that the amount was excessive as things go
to-day. It is the intimate record of her Life from
1776 to 1809 by the bright and brilliant Lady who
was the hostess and caretaker of Johnson for eighteen
years, and was the friend of Johnson's friends, Rey-
nolds, Garrick, Burke, Baretti, Burney, Boswell — and
whose second marriage with Piozzi was the result of
an irresistable passion in no way discreditable to her,
and based on mutual affection and esteem. She was
in a position to record interesting things, and she

THRALIANA 5

does record them most candidly and faithfully, and
used to read and re-read Thraliana to the end of her
life. Only three leaves had she cut out, which
relate to the time when she broke off with Piozzi
and sent him to Italy, but she has frequently anno-
tated and supplemented the record by side-notes which
are sometimes of extreme interest.

It is all in a plain bold handwriting that can be
read with ease, and a great deal of it has to do with
forgotten scandals, about her own relatives and other
comparatively unimportant people. These help to
make it a faithful reflection of eighteenth century
life, but are often unsuitable for publication. When
such prodigious prices are paid for a Chinese Vase, a
Renaissance Bronze, a Houdon Bust and a rock-
crystal biberon, it seems to me that it would be
among the less insane of the caprices of millionaires
if one who loved Boswell were to pay >CS°o°j
j^lo,ooo, or j^i 5,000 for the MS. of Mrs. Piozzi's
Thraliana. For something absolutely unique, there
is no such thing as a market value.

But let " Thraliana " speak for itself, and begin
with an entry about Sir Joshua Reynolds and his

6 THRALIANA

sister. "I have fancied lately there was something
of this nature (jealousy) between Sir Joshua and
Miss Reynolds, he certainly does not love her as one
should expect a man to love a sister he has so much
reason to be proud of; perhaps she paints too well,
or she has learned too much Latin and is a better
Scholar than her Brother, and upon reflections I think
it must be so, for if he only did not like her as an
Inmate why should he not give her a genteel Annuity
and let her live where or how she likes. The poor
lady is always miserable, always fretful and she seems
resolved, nobly enough, not to keep her post by
flattery if she cannot keep it by kindness, this is a
flight so far beyond my power that I respect her for
it, and do love dearly to hear her criticize Sir
Joshua's Painting or indeed his Connoisseurship
which I think she always does with Justice and
Judgment, mingled now and then with a bitterness
that diverts one."

It was evidently a pleasure to Mrs. Thrale to
hear attacks on the genius of Reynolds, whose " in-
vulnerability " was probably as tedious to her as the
virtue of Aristides to the ostracizing Greeks. North-

THRALIANA 7

cote says that nothing made Sir Joshua so mad as
Miss Reynold's portraits which were an exact imita-
tion of all his defects. There are few references to
Goldsmith, for Thraliana was not begun till two
years after Goldsmith's death, but Mrs. Thrale gives
the following anecdote at second-hand.

" Mrs. Montague says she was vastly struck with
Goldsmith the first time they met ; it was at some
great Table, I forget what, but Lady Abercorn was
there, a Lady of about 76 or 80 years old, and the
Company remarking how young she looked were
led to mention her age and apply to the Doctor. I
am no great Judge says Goldsmith for I never saw
an old woman before, except I mean an Applewoman
or a Beggarwoman or some such body. Ladies
always look young, I think for they are finely
dressed up so I can't tell whether this Lady looks
well for her age or no, 'tis a new species to
me.

A Caricature drawing of Goldsmith by Bunbury
is pasted in the first Volume of Thraliana.

The following anecdote recorded in March 1777
must perhaps not be taken as anything but a good

8 THRALIANA

tale : an Oxford satire on the slender examination
tests of Eighteenth Century parsons.

" Dr. Parker once told a story of a young Fellow
at Oxford who went for Ordination to the famous
Martin Benson, and returned rejected and of course
looking foolish enough, how is this cried his Tutor,
why were you not ordained as we- expected ? I
don't know replied the other, why he asked me
some cramp questions which I did not half under-
stand. What questions said the Tutor, why says
the Boy he asked me who was the great Mediatour
between God and Man ! and what was your reply ?
Why says the young fellow after a moments con-
sideration I named the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Blockhead ! exclaims the Tutor didn't you know
that the Archbishop and Benson have had a Quarrel,
if you had named any other Bishop on the Bench,
it would have been doney

The Martin Benson of this Story was created
Bishop of Gloucester in 1752 and is regarded as
one of the most learned and pious of Eighteenth
Century Bishops. Many of them had learning, but
very few were remarkable for piety.

THRALIANA 9

Readers of Boswell feel very well acquainted with
Bennet Langton and his wife the Countess of Rothes,
but even the indiscreet Boswell could not write quite
so freely for the public as Mrs. Thrale in the privacy
of Thraliana. She gives a very amusing description
of the wasteful and shiftless ways of Bennet Langton's
father and mother which she must have heard from
Johnson, and which I omit with some reluctance,
and then begins on Langton himself and his wife
Lady Rothes.

"This Mr. Langton however was to have repaired
the fortune of the family and married a rich Wife,
for he is pious, learned and elegant and well qualified
to make his addresses to any Lady. To the grief and
astonishment of all his true friends they now behold
him tied to a thing without Beauty Birth Money
or Talents, widow to an old Scotch Peer who wanted
a son in his old age and took a fresh lowland lass for
that purpose with more Probability than success,
She is a Presbyterian too, to make her more fit for
Langton who is a Tory and High Churchman up to
the Eyes, but that as he observes is a small Fault for
says he I shall take her to Church and she will go of

lo THRALIANA

course and not find out the difference. She does so,
and they seem to live vastly happy as can be, and
ask their friends to dine with them. Lords, Ladies,
anybody, upon a piece of boiled Beef and a Loin of
Veal only without anything else, all this with an
insensibility truly admirable.

August 13th 1777. Yesterday I dined at Sir
Joshua Reynolds, Richmond Hill some agreeable
People were raked together and we intended to have
a charming day of it, but Mr. Garrick was sick and
Lady Rothes was troublesome. She brought the
Babies with her both under six years old, which
though the prettiest Babies in the World were not
wanted there at all, they played and prattled and
suffered nobody to be heard but themselves, we
ancient Maids, sterile Wives and disappointed parents
were peevish to see others happier than ourselves in
a little Boy who, naughty as we called him, three
people there would have been glad to purchase with
ten thousand pounds — Garrick, Thrale and old Deputy
Paterson, who married a second wife on purpose but
could not obtain his wish."

It ought to be mentioned to justify Mrs. Thrale's

THRALIANA 1 1

description of herself as a disappointed parent, that
she had lost both her sons by death, and had only
daughters living.

As these extracts from Thraliana are given in
order of time as they were entered by Mrs. Thrale in
her Volumes, they must inevitably appear "scrappy,"
and they jump from one subject to another, but this
gives the same effect as does the actual reading of
Thraliana, which is something between a diary and a
commonplace book, and is a delightful jumble of
family troubles, gossip, scandal, political events,
amusing tales, and serious reflections.

I do not remember having seen elsewhere a tale
told by Johnson about Garrick when first he appeared
as King Richard in London. A rich and noble Lady
fell in love with him and sent a go-between to pro-
pose marriage, but the proposals dropped and it was
only after a year or two that Garrick met the inter-
mediary and discovered the cause.

" Well she said the Truth is the best excuse, I
will tell you. My friend fell in love with you
playing King Richard but seeing you since in
the character of the Lying Valet you looked so

12 THRALIANA

shabby (Pardon me. Sir) that it cured her of her
passion."

Mrs. Thrale records a smart saying of her own
when she was in Paris at the time of the outbreak of
the American Rebellion. She has used it in one
of her published works.

" A French Gentleman whose Place was near
mine at the Opera asked me in a sneering manner
how we should do to conquer America adding that
he fancied it would be somewhat difficult. Perhaps
so, I replied, now 'tis defended by Englishmen. I
remember twas easy enough to take it from the
French."

The following description of Mr. Cumberland
proves that Sheridan did not overdraw his caricature
in Sir Fretful Plagiary in the Critic.

" Mr. Cumberland's delicacy is very troublesome,
his peevishness very teazing and his envy very hateful,
he looks to me like a man that had been poisoned so
sallow is his Complexion, and so sunk are his Eyes.
Yet his person is Genteel and his Manner elegant but
he professes to be easily galled and says of himself
that he was born without a skin. Effeminacy is

THRALIANA 13

however an odious quality in the Creature, and when
joined with low jealousy actually detestable, he is a
man one cannot love." I suppress a rather scandalous
note annexed to this passage by Mrs. Piozzi at a later
period.

As an introduction to an account of a conversa-
tion on Love with Dr. Johnson in which he expressed
his usual commonsense and unromantic views, she
remarks " As my peace has never been disturbed by
the Soft Passion so it seldom comes into my head to
talk of it."

During this conversation Johnson defended all
amusements as combating the taedium vifae. — " Cards,
dress, dancing all found their advocates in Johnson.
Somebody would say — such a Lady never touches a
card, how then does she get rid of her time says
Johnson does she drink Drams, Such a Person never
suffers Gentlemen to buzz in his daughter's Ears, —
who is to buzz in her Ears then ? The Footman ? "

The following tale may be recommended to the
members of the Anti- Vivisection Society, and it
would be all the more suitable for them as it bears
the marks of exaggeration and imagination.

14 THRALIANA

" A Fellow brought his dog to a doctor for
dissection, pray friend enquires the Doctor is not that
the dog which once saved your life : and have you
the cruelty to bring him here to be dissected ? Why
really answers the Clown, I do believe the poor beast
loves me so, that if he knowd I should get a Crown
by it, he would have come voluntary."

Mrs. Thrale has written in these volumes several
tales unfit to tell in a mixed company but we must
remember that this was a private record, and that she
had possibly heard some of these " Smoke Room
Stories " from Thrale in private : and then, of course,
the Eighteenth Century was not precisely mid-
Victorian. She had however her own strong feelings
of propriety.

" At a dinner-party at Mr. Deputy Paterson, his
wife insisted on reciting some impromptu verses,
which her husband had composed at the age of 72 in
honour of a reigning beauty — They were repeated
with great gravity and in a theatrical tone : —

When Daphne fled Apollo's Arms
And in a Laurel veiled her Charms
His Godship longed to bark her

THRALIANA 15

So do I hate the nuzzling Pride
Of Lace and Gauze that strive to hide
The Charms of Kitty Parker.

(Mrs. Thrale writes out four more stanzas.)

Well ! now to be sure these verses are very happy,
very Sprightly very clever considering they were run
ofF all impromptu, but they are such verses as I
should have thought no Lady would have repeated
in mixed Company."

Nevertheless Mrs. Thrale must have asked Mrs.
Paterson for a copy of " those charming verses " for
she would hardly have been able to carry them in
her memory from a single hearing.

Mrs. Thrale has written in these pages a long
account of her own family, much of which has been
published by Hayward, but that gentleman was not
entrusted by Mr. Salusbury with the following
account of the diarists own father Mr. John Salusbury
of Bachygraig, who seems to have been rather like
one of the heroes of Fielding's Novels.

" My father turning out a wild young Fellow
with spirit to spend money and earnest desire to give
it away wherever it seemed to be wanted, and soon

1 6 THRALIANA

very little to spend or give, and resolved to come to
London and try his Fortune as 'tis called, Here he
fell in with a very famous Woman Miss Harriott
Edwards who having struck out for herself a new
Plan of Happiness resolved to act the Man and the
Libertine : She was a Young Person of large and
independent Fortune who set Reputation at Naught
and Scandal at Defiance, resolved to avoid Marriage,
yet have a Son on whom to settle her estate.* She
took, as I have been told a fancy to my Father whom
she supplied with Money as long as her Taste to his
Company subsisted, and when they parted he picked
up another female Friend, a Mrs. Stradwicke who
being divorced from her Husband led a libertine Life
till all her pelf was exhausted : when these resources
failed my father, he went abroad as Cicerone to his
Relation Sir Robert Cotton of Combermere who
paid his expences and was pleased with his Company,
the more perhaps as he did not suspect the attach-
ment his own sister Hester had to him and the
regular correspondence they had long continued to
maintain.

* She would be considered quite a forward Feminist even now.

THRALIANA i?

My Mother became so lovely a creature both in
body and mind that her brother Sir Robert grew
proud of her and she was always about with him and
Lady Betty who introduced her into gay life when
she received many advantageous proposals of marriage,
she, however, declined accepting any, having secretly
set her heart upon her Flashy Cousin John and when
her fortune was settled and she became independent,
she resolved to bestow it and herself on my Father
for whose necessities it was by no means sufficient
being only seven Thousand Pounds and an annuity of
)^I25 per annum for the Life of her Mother the
Lady Cotton who was no longer young ; and having
had two more Children by Captain King seemed to
be quite worn out. Well ! my Father durst not
return with Sir Robert from France lest this attach-
ment to his sister should be discovered so he stayed
at Lyons six months with a French Marquise who
died in his Arms and left him the little he had not
spent of hers before. (Note. The Goldheaded cane
which I gave Mr. Thrale was a Present from that
Lady.) With this little money he came home and
married Miss Hester Maria Cotton whose brother

1 8 THRALIANA

Sir Robert Cotton protested he would never see them
more."

They lived in Carnarvonshire in poverty and dis-
sention till the daughter became a link between them.

" Rakish men seldom make tender fathers but a
man must fondle something and Nature pleads her
own cause powerfully when a little Art is likewise
used to help it forward. I therefore grew a great
favourite it seems, in spite of his long continued
efforts to dislike me and now they had a Centre of
Unity in this Offspring for which they were both
equally interested, they began to agree a little better,
I believe, and bear with patience their irrevocable
Lot : and now nine years of mutual misery had been
endured when Sir Robert Cotton, soured by having
no children of his own, and disliking to excess the
Lady whom his next brother and immediate heir had
chosen began to hear of his once favourite Sister, and
made overtures of Peace. During these nine years
my Mother had never bought but one new Gown,
that cost only one Guinea of a Pedlar that come
about the Country, she made her own candles, salted
her own meat, ironed her own Linen and her

THRALIANA 19

Husbands and mine, and if he would but have been
good-humoured protested she would have been happy."
As a fair account of Mrs. Thrale's Life up to
the time of her marriage is given in Hayward's and
Seeley's books it will be unnecessary to give any
more extracts about her relatives or the circumstances,
recorded after fifteen years, of her marriage to Mr.
Thrale, a mariage de Raison arranged for her by her
Mother and Uncle. It was not an unsuitable mar-
riage, but Mrs. Thrale is modest enough to think that
one of the chief of her attractions in Mr. Thrale's
eyes was her willingness to live much of her life in
the house in the Borough near the Southwark Brewery.
The house at Streatham was for Thrale rather a sub-
urban than a country house for he was quite deter-
mined not to have a " neighbourhood " there, but to
depend for Society on friends from London. His old
Bachelor friends Murphy, Bodens, Fitzpatrick, Captain
Conway, and others were at first the Amis de la Maison.
Mrs. Thrale says " I liked none of them but Murphy,
and my mother despised them all/' but it was Murphy
who introduced Johnson and so made the house fam-
ous for ever in English Literary History.

20 THRALIANA

At the end of the second Volume of Thraliana,
we have a description of Mrs. Thrale's own person
and mind, of which I quote the latter.

" The Character of the Mind is however almost
wholly Italian [this was written before she was ac-
quainted with Piozzi] or rather Welsh perhaps, for
her Temper is warm even to irascibility affectionate
and tender but claiming such returns to her tenderness
and affection as busy people have no time to pay and
coarse people have no pleasure in paying. She is a
diligent and active friend who spares neither money
nor pains to oblige but is soon disgusted if the person
obliged does not express the sense of Obligation, by
nature a rancorous and revengeful enemy, but having
conquered that Quality by God's Grace she is now
apt really and bona fide to forget when and how she
was offended."

At the beginning of Vol. III. on 19 May 1778
she mentions that the black letter title " Thraliana " is
written by Sophy Streatfield, but as very full extracts
about that fair lady and her flirtations were furnished
by Mr. Salusbury to Hayward and printed by him
they shall not be quoted here. It is curious however

THRALIANA

21

that she never mentions S. S's strange gift of being
able to weep real tears at the word of command as a
sort of accomplishment, which furnishes Miss Burney
with a life-like descriptive passage.

Here follows a most remarkable tabular character
sketch of the society of Streatham, based on a system
of marks for different qualities, 20 being full marks.

1

d

1

t/3

1

n

•0

g jj
a. a

1

1

^1

Johnson - - -

20

20

19

20

15

16

Murphy - -

I

4

15

6

13

15

•7

15

15

Dr. Burney - -

r8

18

8

15

13

16

3

19

Garrick - - -

10

15

3

i6

18

17

19

19

Seward - _ -

17

12

14

9

10

18

Boswell -

5

5

5

10

10

8

7

3

19

Bodens - - -

10

6

15

15

15

IS

Thrale - - -

18

17

9

9

18

17

Burke- - - -

16

10

14

19

12

14

Sir John Lade

5

10

9

Baretti - - -

6

6

17

4

6

s

Dr. Beattie - -

18

18

II

7

7

6

Jas. Harris - -

10

20

10

5

3

5

Langton - - -

18

18

17

6

5

5

Cator - - - -

13

3

22 THRALIANA

It contains a great deal in a small space, the celebrity
of some of the persons and the fact that the marks
were given by a keen witted woman who knew them
all intimately, gives it a quite unique interest. Some
of the names in Thraliana are not given here, among
others Sir Joshua Reynolds. The reason that Sir
Joshua's character is not quoted is that in his case the
columns of Religion and Morality are left blank.
This means that as to the Religion, and Morality of
the President of the Royal Academy, Mrs. Thrale
had not been able to make up her mind. It is clear
that she did not like him very much, so that her
agnosticism as to his religion and morality may be
taken as want of sympathy.

" By Good Humour is meant only the Good
Humour necessary to conversation." Mrs, Thrale
evidently meant that combination of good humour
and good temper which enables people to stand argu-
ment, contradiction and chaff without irritation or
resentment.

There is another elaborate table which I do not
reproduce about the Lady visitors to Streatham, but
the headings are different, Mrs, Thrale remarks.

THRALIANA 23

" They must possess virtue in the contracted sense or
one would not keep 'em company." One of these
virtuous dames, however, she suspects of having had
an illegitimate child.

She gives several remarkable tales of Dreams and
warnings which she had heard from others and one
that happened to herself is striking and impressive,
though it is impossible to avoid the criticism that it
is not entered in Thraliana till more than two years
after the event.

" When I myself was at Lille in Flanders in the
year 1775 I walked with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Thrale
round the great Church there, and in one of the
Chapels I observed myself to stumble in an odd
manner so as to give me uncommon Pain, and at the
same time to excite strange ideas of Terror wholly
unaccountable to me, who am neither timorous nor
over delicate : I looked at the Altarpiece and saw it
was the figure of an Angel protecting a boy about
twelve years old, as it should seem and somehow the
child struck me with a Resemblance to my own, and
alarmed me in an unusual manner. I prayed for the
safety of my young ones and as I came out of the

24 THRALIANA

Chapel I asked an old Man to niohom that Chapel was
dedicated — he replied — to the Guardian Angel of
Children. I resolved to walk round the Church and
go into every Chapel in it to see if I should stumble
in them, I could not stumble, however, but when I
returned with better spirits to the Children's Chapel
I stumbled again and even hurt myself. The Im-
pression it made alarmed me and as I could not rid
myself of the uneasiness it caused, I told Mr. Johnson
in the afternoon when Hester was gone to the play
with her Papa : he bid me be careful not to
encourage such Fancies and talking the thing through
cleared my Head of it for a Time, soon after our
return from abroad, however, I was dreadfully alarmed
by my son's sudden Illness and Death, and though he
continued ill but three Hours, this old Superstition
haunted me all the while, the more perhaps as I had
two days before, going down to dinner with Com-
pany, when he was perfectly well at School heard
something like a preternatural Voice (that of his
Guardian Angel perhaps) call me by my name, but
this I never mentioned to anyone, lest I should be
suspected of Madness. But Mad I am not.

THRALIANA 25

" I have the best health in the world, no Indiges-
tion, no Headaches, no Vapours : no Change of
Weather affects me, nor did even the loss of my only
Son lay stronger hold on my Heart than it was utterly
impossible to avoid. My mind is an active whirligig
mind, which few things can stop to disturb, and if
disturbed it soon recovers its Strength and its
Activity."

With this we may compare the following entry :
which for the sake of the contrast I have taken a
little out of its proper order in Thraliana.

"24th September 1779. Friday. I have got a
strange Fit of the Horrors upon me today, some-
thing runs in my head that I shall die or Mr. Thrale
die and that we shall not, as we hoped, communicate
at God's Table next Sunday. I will say nothing of
it, for it may end in nothing but I am not used to be
low-spirited and 'tis very odd to be so now, for I ail
nothing though I tremble with Terror just as I was
before my Son died ! if nothing does happen I will
never mind low Spirits again. Monday 4th Oct.
1779. Nothing happened, we did communicate
together last Sunday se'nnight and tomorrow

26 THRALIANA

we set out for Tunbridge Wells and Brighthelm-

stone."

I must now quote a very remarkable passage in
which Mrs. Thrale records in 1779 an account of
some great passion or scandal in Johnson's Life to
which she makes no further reference in the length
and breadth of Thraliana.

" It appears to me that no Man can live his Life
quite through, without being at some period of it
under the dominion of some Woman, Wife, Mistress
or Friend, Pope and Swift were softened by the
Smiles of Patty Blount and Stella and our stern philo-
sopher Johnson trusted me about the Years 1767 or
1768, I know not which just now, with a Secret far
dearer to him than his Life : such, however, is his
nobleness and such his partiality, that I sincerely
believe he has never since that Day regretted his
Confidence or ever looked with less kind affection on
her who had him in her power.

" Uniformly great in the Mind of that incompar-
able Mortal and well does he contradict the Maxims
of Rochefoucault that no man is a hero to his Valet
de Chambre. Johnson is more a Hero to me than to

THRALIANA 27

anyone and I have been more to him for intimacy
than ever was any Man's Valet de Chambre."

This furnishes a fine problem for the exercise of a
constructive imagination. The fact that this con-
fidence of Johnson's, recorded it must be remembered
more than ten years after it w^as given, placed him
" in Mrs. Thrale's pov^rer " proves that it was not a
mere flirtation or love affair but something of which
the sage had reason to be ashamed. We must
remember that more than ten years elapsed between
the death of Johnson's wife and his first acquaintance
with either Boswell or the Thrales and that during
this period he passed much of his time in deplorable
and apparently inexcusable laziness while supposed to
be employed in preparing his edition of Shakespeare.
Shortly after he became friendly with Mr. and Mrs.
Thrale they found him in a state of despondency and
despair, that was akin to madness. Still we do not
know the name of the woman under whose dominion
Johnson passed, and it is very much to the credit of
Mrs. Piozzi that we do not know it. Boswell could
not possibly have kept it back.

The following passage is interesting as it shews

28 THRALIANA

what a real respect she had for her husband as a
politician while having no illusions whatever as to
the general character of the Houses of Parliament.
The House of Commons at that time was certainly
not a collection of ideal men anymore _ than it is
today. Let us hope that today there are wives
to be found who believe, each of them, that her
own husband is the one honest man in a rotten
and accursed Assembly.

Mrs. Thrale writes : —

" If we have deserved Help from Heaven we
shall have it, but let us first enquire whether per-
adventure ten righteous men may be found in the
Houses of Parliament, when I say ten righteous
Men I mean ten Men free from the vice of the
place, [she make a comparison with SodomJ wholly
clear from Corruption or bias of any kind or ty'd
by any interest for their own sakes or their Friends
to any Party whatever. It may for aught I know,
be saved for the sake of such 7>«, but I only know
One myself and that is Mr. Thrale. 5 July IJJ()"

I will now present, as Mr. Frohman says, a series
of extracts which shew Mrs. Thrale's variety of

THRALIANA 29

subject and variety of tone though all written with
equal sincerity (i) concerning Pacchierotti, about
whom we hear some scandalous tales in the extracts
from Thraliana printed by Hayward. (2) about
Mrs. Thrale's efforts in the cause of religion. (3)
as to a young admirer at Bath. (4) a comparison
between Gray the Poet and Sir Joshua Reynolds the
Painter. (5) reflections on a curious MS. of Pope's
with moral observations on the amount of artifice
in Life.

" (i) Fanny Burney goes home now to study
and live recluse and as I tell her to kiss Pacchierotti,
The Castrato Singer, of whom they are all so fond.
Pacchierotti said one day to me when I told him my
Regard was of little value from my Ignorance of
Musick, On the Contrary Madam the hard thing
is mine for how shall I reward your Propensity to me
if not by my Talent. Partiality said I, — I beg pardon
Madam, Propensity — Comical enough and so was a
note of his in Answer to an invitation of mine and
Miss Burney's for an Evening Visit. I pity myself,
says he, that I cannot pass the whole Night between
those two Ladies, but I will give them what I can.

3° THRALIANA

All this with perfect Innocence of any meaning
whatsoever.

(2) If one can mend anybody's Morals or fix
anybody's notions of Religion, how happy does it
make one ; sure it is not mere vanity in me to
fancy that I have helped forward the Salvation of
my Husband, Mrs. Byron, Mrs. Lambert and Sir
P. J. Gierke. My Children's souls are in my care,
and all I can do for them is indispensible duty.

Mr. Scrase * is quite unimpressible with any
religious notions for I have worked at him, but I
have often observed, Business disqualifies a man for
Heaven more than Pleasure does ; The Thorney
ground seems to be worse than the Stoney, — and
the Faults which a Man applauds in himself he
never will be cured of; now the Pleasure-hunter
always condemns himself, the Business-hunter quite
otherwise.

(3) (1780 Bath) I have picked up an agreeable
acquaintance here in Lord John Clinton second Son
to the Duke of Newcastle ; I thought at first he

* Mrs. Piozzi's trusted friend and business adviser, whom she always
found worthy of every confidence.

THRALIANA 3^

was in love with Hester by his close attention to
me, but I believe he was only seized with the
present rage young Men have of following a woman
of sense as they phrase it. — The pretty girls are so
empty, no Society pleases me but a Woman of Sense,
A lucky Folly at least, nor should I call it such but
that I conclude it Affectation in this Boy ; However
it may be genuine perhaps as he thinks it is : —

(4) Mr. Johnson's criticism of Gray, displeases
many people Sir Joshua Reynolds in particular, he
professes the Sublime of Painting, I think, with the
same Affectation as Gray does in Poetry both of
them tame quiet Characters by Nature but forced
into Fire by Artifice & Effort ; the time will come
when some cool observer will see, or some daring
Fellow venture to say, of Sir Joshua's Ugolino all
that Johnson has been telling of Gray's Bard.

{5) 10 Dec. 1780. We have got a sort of
literary curiosity amongst us : the foul copy of Pope's
Homer with all his old intended verses, sketches,
emendations &c. strange that a Man should keep
such Things [Stranger still that a Woman should
write such a Book as this ; put down every occur-

32 THRALIANA

rence of her Life, every Emotion of her Heart and
call it Thraliana forsooth, but then I mean to destroy
it] All Wood and Wire behind the Scenes sure
enough ! one sees that Pope laboured as hard

as if the Stagyrite o'er looked each line,
indeed : and how very little effect those glorious
verses at the end of the 8th Book of the Iliad have
upon me ; w^hen one sees 'em all in their Cradles
and Clouts and Light changed for Bright, and then
the whole altered again and the line must end with
Night and Oh Dear ! thus

Tort'ring one poor Word a thousands Ways,
Johnson says 'tis pleasant to see the progress of such
a Mind : true but 'tis a malicious Pleasure such as
Men feel when they watch a Woman at her Toilet

See by Degrees a purer Blush arise
Wood and Wire once more : Wood and Wire."

The following remarks about Edmund Burke
the sainted Burke, canonized by Lord Morley, may
be read with some surprise and certainly it is rather
a shock to hear such startling tales of the comparative
sobriety of the gentleman of Wales. Perhaps how-

THRALIANA 33

ever it is wrong to judge the Welsh Country
Gentlemen by Peacock's "Headlong Hall" but we
cannot dispute that Mrs. Thrale "stayed in the
house " at Beaconsfield, and that Burke was Irish.
Mrs. Thrale is composing a description & verses
for the Portraits by Sir Joshua in the Library at
Streatham and when she comes to Burke writes as
follows : —

" 'Tis now Time to turn over a new Leaf for
the great orator Mr. Edmund Burke, who, after I
had ran from Gentlemen's House to Gentleman's
House all over Wales in the year 1774 was the
first man I had ever seen drunk or heard talk
obscenely, when I lived with him and his Lady at
Beaconsfield among Dirt Cobwebs Pictures and
Statues that would not have disgraced the City of
Paris itself where Misery and Magnificence reign
in all their splendour and in perfect Amity. (Note,
Irish Roman Catholics are always like the foreigners
somehow, dirty and dressy with all their Clothes
hanging as if upon Peg.) That Mrs. Burke drinks
as well as her Husband and that their black-a-moor
carries Tea about with a cut finger wrapped in Rags

34 THRALIANA

must help to apologise for the severity with which
I have treated so very distinguished a Character."

In Mrs. Thrale's Welsh diary published by Mr.
Broadley in 1909 the remarks on Burke are much
milder.

There is much less detail about dress in Thraliana
than we should naturally expect to find, but the
following passage shews the natural pleasure felt by
Mrs. Thrale at the sensation created by a striking
costume and it shews that the Lady was before her
age in consideration for the Press.

" My Name has figured finely in the Newspaper
on account of my going to Court on the Birthday in
the O-Why-Hee Pattern Silk, the Truth is I had a
mind partly to please the Burneys, whose Captain
brought me some Curiosities from the South Seas
and new discovered Regions, particularly a Scrap of
Cloth torn from the back of the Indian who killed
Capt. Cook with his Club. This stuff I thought so
pretty that I got Carr the Mercer to imitate it in
Satten ; and trimmed it with Feathered Ornaments to
keep up the Taste of the Character, still preserving
in View the Fashion of the Times. It was violently

THRALIANA 35

admired to be sure, and celebrated in all the Papers
of the Day, which I have a notion was owing to my
own willingness to be looked at by the people who
sat in the Guard Room observing Dresses Fashions
&c. My being used to electioneering prevents my
Indignation from boyling at the sight of a few honest
Fellows collected together which the Ton-Folks call
a Mob so I turned to them and smiled and I heard
them say 'tis Mrs. Thrale Oh She's a good natured
Lady &c. and so they put me in the News I guess."

Several of her friends are going abroad and she
makes the following entry :—

" I catch myself thinking that if my Master was
to dye and Queeny to marry ; I would take my two
next Girls and give them a little Run upon the Con-
tinent before the time of Flirtation should arrive, as
School Girls are dangerous Animals enough at 14 or
15 years old. Ignorant of every earthly thing but
their Lessons, they are a natural Prey to all who
venture the Attack ; and the Fortune of my Monkies
will induce attention like the White Feather in Henri-
quatres Hat on the Day of Battle."

Here follows an extract which shews really affec-

36 THRALIANA

tionate feeling though it is possible that Mrs. Thrale
took a pleasure in writing it, for it is very well ex-
pressed.

" One page more I see ends the third Volume of
Thraliana ! strange Farrago as it is of Sense, Non-
sense, publick private Follies but chiefly my own, and
/ the little Hero ! but who should be the Hero of
an "Ana" ? let me vindicate my own Vanity if it be
with my last Pen. This Volume will be finished at
Streatham and left there. . . . My poor little old
Aunt at Bath is dying, and I am Dolt enough to
be sincerely sorry, the more as her past kindnesses
claim that personal attendance from me which Mr.
Thrale will not permit me to pay her, poor little, old,
insipid, useless Creature ! May God Almighty in his
Mercy, pity, receive and bless her as a most inoffensive
Atom of Humanity, for whom His only Son consented
to be crucified and among whose Flock she has most
innocently fed for sixty or seventy years.

Here closes the third Volume. Streatham.
Monday 29 January 178 1."

As this is not a life of Mrs. Thrale, readers may
be referred to Boswell, Hayward or Mr. Seeley for

THRALIANA 37

an account of Thrale's death, the appointnfient of
Executors and the sale of the Brewery. The use of
Streatham House and the income from ^50,000
were left to Mrs. Thrale. Most of the important
passages in " Thraliana " in reference to her gradual
attachment to Piozzi, her determination to marry
him, and then her resolution to send him to Italy
and give him up for the sake of her daughters, were
communicated to Mr. Hayward by Mr. Salusbury.
But the love tale is told in full by Mrs. Thrale and
it is only in Thraliana that it can be read in full.
Miss Burney was the " confidant " though she was
opposed to the Piozzi marriage. She did not approve
of Mrs. Thrale marrying a man who was a foreigner
and a Roman Catholic but seems to have behaved
with sympathy and discretion. It is curious that she
should herself have afterwards married M. D'Arblay
who was also a foreigner and a Roman Catholic.
Mrs. Thrale had left Streatham, which was let to
Lord Shelburne, the Prime Minister, and when she
gave up Piozzi retired to Bath with her daughters.
Her constancy to Piozzi remained unimpaired. They
wrote to each other and she frequently sent him

38 THRALIANA

verses which do not seem to have cooled his affection.
Early in 1784 her daughters took pity on her. She
was very ill and was in truth dying of love for
Piozzi, so Miss Thrale wrote to Milan to recall
the Amante Adorato from his banishment. During
this period she is too much agitated to write much
on general topics but the following passage in Thra-
liana is dated at Bath on March 15th 1784.

"To neglect or forbear the Education of our
Children is surely not the fault of the present Age,
every Boy is driven into the Lists of Literature where
indeed failure is now scarcely a Disgrace, so many
and so impotent are the Claimants for Fame. Every
Female is harrassed with Masters she disregards, and
heaped with Accomplishments which she ought to
disdain when she reflects that her Mother only loads
her with Allurements as a Rustic lays Birdlime on
Twigs to decoy and catch the unwary Traveller :
like that too it is often laid on so unskilfully that
Man and Bird flies instinctively away, their intention
appears so very palpably : yet is Education at last an
admirable Thing."

The marriage takes place on July 25th 1784, and

THRALIANA 39

on September 3rd she enters in Thraliana this heart-
felt expression of satisfaction — " I have now been
six weeks married and enjoyed greater and longer
Felicity than I ever yet experienced, — to crown all
my dear daughters Susanna and Sophia have spent
the Day with myself and my amiable Husband. We
part in Peace and Love and Harmony ; and tomorrow
I set off for the finest Country in the World in
company with the best Man in it."

And so for Italy — leaving behind Johnson, who
behaved very badly indeed with reference to her
marriage and for whose conduct towards his Bene-
factress there is no sufficient excuse and hardly any
palliation. I give the following extracts from
Thraliana about her travels.

"Paris. 23rd. Sept. 1784. The Count Turconi.

A Humpbacked Italian Nobleman who lives
always here to enjoy that Liberty which great Cities
are sure to afford has offered his House near Milan
for us to inhabit, while he studies Life all day and
Chemistry all Night among the Parisians. I was
diverted with the account of the People he lives with
and whom he does not Love " but anything " says he

40 THRALIANA

" is better than Etiquette and Insipidity so I keep clear
of Milano at least, and pass my Life in the manner I
best like," he seems to esteem me and so indeed do
all the Italians, I have yet been introduced to :
Goldoni dined here one day and we struck Fire vastly
well ; he is such a looking man as the famous James
Harris of Salisbury and extremely garrulous ; the
Italian talk a great deal but he out talked 'em all.

She hears on the 25 th of January of Johnson's
death which had been long expected and writes
" Oh poor Dr. Johnson " but she is herself very
happy. 27th January. Milan. 1785. Here am
I ! with my Husband and his Friends passing my
Birthday (after all past Anguish) in the Bosom of
Friendship, Love and good humour : with my health
recovered as far as it was recoverable and even my
looks repaired by growing fat, so as to content my
ever partial, my ever kind companion. What Blessings,
What Comforts are these ! and how grateful ought
I to be for a Change so unhoped for, though always
eagerly desired.

We have a dinner and a Concert ; and I am fed
with flattery even to Repletion : but that of course

THRALIANA 41

which most delights my Heart is the unfeigned
Pleasure which I see my Piozzi takes in my
Company. God has heard my Prayers and enabled
me to make happy the most amiable of his Sex
Was I to wish for more, I might provoke Providence
to lessen the enjoyments I possess ; let me suppress
all inordinate Desire of a Child by the man I so
love, that only could add to my happiness.

So passes the happiest Birthday ever yet ex-
perienced by Hester Lynch Piozzi."

Though she finds the Italians pleasant and amiable,
she is much disgusted with their customs & super-
stitions and the grossness of their talk.

" I told Piozzi the other day that I thought
Senator Morosini's talk was like nothing I ever
heard of but a Midwife's evidence in England upon
a Tryal in a Court of Justice.

I have always been partial to Peter as elder
Brother though I acknowledge him neither for
Padre nor Monsignor, but I shall now be a follower
of dear Martin as much from preference as from
being born and educated where his Heaven-dictated
Reformation is the established Church. These

42 THRALIANA

people by treating my notions as Heretical have
made me a Protestant in despite of myself, who
always used to say that though I dissented from the
Roman Church I did not protest against it, but when
they profess to worship Man instead of God 'tis Time
to protest against such gross Impiety, No. Sir.
said I to a Priest the other day you do not pay
dhine Honours either to Saints or to Angels ; you
respect them. On the contrary Madam replied he,
we adore them ; and so we do the Pope ; and it
is heresy to oppose that Adoration.

Here I finished and resolved never to speak to
them upon that subject more — Could I but separate
my Piozzi from these goats ! "

Having seen Venice Rome and Naples they
return to Milan.

Milan. Casa Fedale. 27 June. 1786.

"... Such happiness had I once in the Company
of dear Dr. Johnson whose knowledge of the World
I now find to be nearly intuitive, excepting only
that he could never persuade himself to think man-
kind so wicked as I have since found them to be.
The Anecdotes of his Life written by me in various

THRALIANA 43

parts of Italy, begun here in Milan, continued at
Florence and finished at Leghorn, met I understand
with an extremely favourable Reception in England ;
so I ought to be thankful and in good Humour with
my own Country now — for every reason. Indeed
comparing it with others, one must allow it a gainer
tho' vicious enough God knows. . . . Our Beckfords
and BickerstafFs do not keep their Male Mistresses
in Triumph like the Roman Priests and Princes.

This Italy is indeed a sink of Sin and whoever
lives long in it must be a little tainted. England
certainly does keep the Golden Mean and though
wickeder than one would wish it and more defective
both in Faith and Works I verily do believe it is
the best part of Europe to live in for almost every
reason.

1 6 August 1786. Milan.

I have seen a stranger Thing however here at
Milan than any critical Studies can afford. Nature
and her Varieties are better worth Studying after
all than all other Sciences could one acquire them.
Dr. Johnson once said nobody ever saw a strange
thing ; and Challenged two or three Friends (myself

44 THRALIANA

amongst them) to say I had in my Life been
Witness to any Sight justly called a Strange one.
But I had not then seen Awocato Borghi a Lawyer
of this Town and a man well respected who actually
cbews the cud like an Ox which he did in my presence
and at my request. He is eminent for Strength, his
Person like that of another Man till stripping, he
shews a set of Ribs and a Sternum very surprising
indeed and worthy the Inspection of Anatomists.
His Body on a slight touch even through his
Clothes, throws out Electric Sparks. With all these
peculiarities no man has better health, I'm told, and
he is eminent for lifting great Weights, holding a
Man in the Palm of his Hand and such tricks, he
can throw up his Meals at Pleasure and to oblige
me did go through all the operations of eating,
masticating and vomiting so as to entirely satisfie
all curious Enquiries I could make and leave me
no doubt of the Fact which I would not have
believed from the Relation of any Mortal now living.
I could hardly have refused credit to Johnson.

The Americans have got a Trick of travelling
I find, it is very foolish in their Government to

THRALIANA 45

suffer 'em. They will get spoiled. [The above
remark is inserted in Thraliana without preface
or comment. Have the Americans been spoiled or
improved by Continental travel?] 3rd Sept. 1786.
I am exceedingly obliged to the Milanese Nobility
for their partial Regard and Tenderness towards me
whom they consider as entitled to every Distinction
both by my Birth and Acquirements but though
they respect my Fidelity to the Man I have married,
they scruple not to declare their opinion of its being
very ill bestowed : all the Gentlemen loudly proclaim
their envy of Mr. Piozzi, and astonishment at his
good luck in getting for his wife a Dama di Nascita
[he was not Cavaliere]. Every man I have seen almost
has made Love to me, but when I found how the
land lay, a steadily kept Resolution never to sit with
any man alone even for five minutes, settled that Stuff
completely. The Italians are sad Liars, I would not
trust one of them. These old priests teizing me to
change my religion is the worse thing. I am afraid
of their making Piozzi hate me, and of their putting
a Woman about him to keep him steady in the Good
Old Cause, Milan. 15th Sept. 1786. Well! lam

46 THRALIANA

now about to close my Residence in Italy at the same
Moment as I close my 4th Vol. of Thraliana, and
must confess that no Days since I began it have been
so happily spent by me as those I have passed in this
beautiful country ; where my little Talents have been
respected much beyond their Deserts : my Conduct
extolled far above its Merit, and my Conversation
sought for from the mere Prevalence of true admira-
tion and Esteem. I shall not leave People who deserve
so much from me without sincere Desire and fervent
Prayers for their future welfare. With regard to my
Husband, it is difficult to express how kind and how
attentive he has been. May that tenderness not
lessen from an idea that when I am once in England
I shall need it no longer, .... for to that I shall
owe my Life which depends entirely on him and
which his Company can alone render pleasing in any
Nation and beneath any Sky.

Here then Farewell Fair Italy say I

Whilst other Modes and other climes we try."

And so they left Italy where Mrs. Piozzi wrote
her little book " Anecdotes of the Late Samuel John-
son LL.D. during the last twenty years of his Life."

THRALIANA 47

She sent the MS. to England for publication by
Cadell, and as it was the first book she had published
its great success and numerous editions gave her
much satisfaction.

The following entry in Thraliana after their return
home is made on April 29th 1787 and will explain
Mrs. Piozzi's feelings.

" Vienna pleased Mr. Piozzi better than me, he
found some musical Houses very much to his Taste
but I disliked both the City and People exceedingly.
Prague was horrible, Dresden won my Heart, was I
sixty years old I should like to settle at Dresden,
though Bloomsbury Square and Sauthampton Row
are somewhat nearer to be sure, the Manners very
similar, the Society just such I think. More Women
than Men, and the Men poor creatures, I made
some Friends, Female ones, there who appeared to
Love me sincerely. Brunswick, Hanover and Osna-
burg form a climax of misery. God keep one from
ever seeing those places again. Berlin & Potsdam
were superbly dull. The Gallery at Dusseldorf is
worth running across to look at ; but Aix la Chapelle
was a wretched Place and the Spa Baths made one

48 THRALIANA

sick to look at them. Brussells ! Ay Brussells was
something like indeed : never were people so caressed
as Mr. Piozzi and I were at Brussells. The Duke
and Duchess of Arenburg quite adored us. Lord &
Lady Torrington professed themselves jealous of our
fondness for them : The Princess Governante invited
our further residence in her City and asked me if
nothing she could do would induce us to stay ? The
Arch Duchesses learned English out of my Book
(Johnson's Anecdotes) and Prince Albert would not
have Mrs Piozzi out of his sight. We entertained
sixty four English Friends with a Concert & Supper
at the Hotel d'Angleterre, and dined and spent the
Evening with the first Company every day, and we
left 'em much to my Regret after spending five^weeks
in Gayety and Good Humour. Why did we leave
them ? I never could tell, certainly but the best
reason was the Hope of seeing the Mortgage to Miss
Thrales fairly discharged and cancelled, that satis-
faction I expect next Thursday. As for seeing our
Daughters why we never do see them here, any more
than when the Sea parted us, or hardly. The eldest
has called twice and we have called twice on Susan

THRALIANA 49

and Sophy who refused dining here at our invitation ;
perhaps from an Idea that they are superior to the
petty sovereigns of Germany."

For twenty-five years Mrs. Piozzi Hved in happi-
ness and content with her second husband who died at
Brynbella* in 1809. They never went abroad again,
no doubt because the French Revolution and the
constant warfare which resulted from it were inter-
ferences with travelling, and especially with visits to
Italy to which Englishmen had been so much inclined
from the time of Henry VIII, visits for study and
pleasure that seemed almost a necessary part of a polite
Education. Suffice it to say, that Mr. and Mrs. Piozzi
returned for a time to Streatham and afterwards made
their headquarters in Wales on Mrs. Thrale's ancestral
estate, and that Mr. Piozzi delighted his wife's heart
by being received into the Church of England.

They became very friendly with the Kembles and
especially Mrs. Siddons, and I cannot do better than
quote a somewhat surprising comparison of Mrs.
Siddons and Mrs. Pritchard, especially as Mrs. Piozzi
was well aware that Mrs. Pritchard was stupid off

* The villa built by Piozzi on his wife's land near Denbigh.

G

50 THRALIANA

the stage and knew nothing of the play of Macbeth
except her own part,

II January. 1789. " Kemble is an agreeable
Actor, a very sensible and pleasing Man ; I love him
and his charming Sister sincerely, but have more sense
than to take them for Garrick and Mrs Pritchard
Tis a shame even to have them compared Mrs
Pritchard was incomparable, her Merit overbore the
want of Figure, her intelligence pervaded every Sense.
She was the most refined Coquet of Quality in Gibbers
Lady Betty, the most vulgar and cunning Jade that
Ben Johnson could invent in Doll Common : the
loftiest Roman Matron that Shakespeare could con-
ceive in Coriolanus's Mother, the most subtle and
artful Millward that Lillo could imagine capable of
inducing the young and innocent Prentice Boy, the
tenderest the most instinctively tender Parent that
Voltaire or his translator Hill could give us in
Merope : the softest and most subdued Penitent that
Rowe could exhibit in Jane Shore. Dear Siddons
represents only a Lover distressed or a Woman of
Virtue afflicted, with peculiar Happiness, Elwina,
Belvidera, Dianora, Mrs Beverley, Her Powers are

THRALIANA 51

strong and sweet, vigorous and tasteful ; but limited
and confined. I always thought Pritchard superior
to Garrick ; he felt her so in one scene in Hamlet,
one of Macbeth, and one of the Jealous Wife when all
the Spontaneous Applause of the House went to her.
1789 8th May; Mrs Siddons acted Juliet last
Night, she does it naturally says some one, so arti-
ficially rather said I : but she is a great performer, the
parting Scene with old Nurse was the cleverest
thing I ever saw, so pretty so babyish so charming.
Kemble slept over the parting Scene in Romeo. He
is like Bottom the Weaver he likes The Tyrants! Vein
or Ercles Vein or a Part to tear a Cat in as Bottom says.
I never can keep clear of the idea for my part A Lover
is too condoling for our friend Kemble, he is a clever
man tho' and makes some capital Hits, in many
capital characters.

I wonder if my Executors will burn the Thraliana."
Mrs. Siddons is such a very great personage in the
world of acting that I will quote some more passages
— by no means all — in which Mrs. Pf^ozzi mentions
her, for we must remember that they became very
intimate.

52 THRALIANA

"17 May. 1790. Charming Siddons has spent
some weeks with me, I think mighty well of her
Virtues and am amazed at the cultivated State in
which I have found her mind. She is a fine creature
Body and Soul and has a very distinguished superiority
over other Mortals. Poor pretty Siddons. A Warm
Heart and a Cold Husband are sad things to contend
with but she'll get thro'.

I March 1791. I think Mrs Siddons tho' beauti-
ful and endowed with Talents not to support only but
enrich her family is a Woman by no means particularly
beloved either by Parents, Husband, Brother or Son.
They all like to get what they can out of her ;
but all the Affection flows from her to them,
not from them to her. I guess not the reason
but five thousand Women are better liked by their
families."

In 1794 while living at Streatham her youngest
daughter Cecilia attracted many admirers, among
others Samuel Rogers whose life might have been
very different had he married Mrs. Piozzi's daughter.
As it was, he became a famous host and literary figure
and at one time might be said to be the representative

THRALIANA S3

of Literature in London as Dr. Johnson was fifty
years before him. Mrs. Piozzi's entry is : —

" Mr. Rogers has proposed to Cecilia, he seeks not
her fortune certainly, but he is too ugly to hope
acceptance, who but himself could fancy she would
think of him ? Altho' Banker & Poet. She wants
neither money nor Verses I suppose and like the Girl
in the Comedy would rather have a Husband with
white teeth."

It is amusing to find Mrs. Piozzi noting with some
annoyance that Rogers gave up visiting them at
Streatham after her daughter's marriage, so that it
was clear to her that he had only come for the sake of
Cecilia and not for the charms of the mother's conver-
sation. There is a great deal about the affairs of
Cecilia both before and after her marriage in Thraliana,
and of some of it I can quite understand Mr. Salus-
bury's remark that " it is of too private and delicate
character to be submitted to strangers." As for the
three elder daughters who lived apart from her from
the time of her marriage with Piozzi, there was no
real intimacy though the mutual feeling became less
unfriendly, as time went on. But Mrs. Piozzi had

54 THRALIANA

no tolerance or patience for anyone who did not
appreciate and respect her dear husband. She was
not merely a devoted wife, but found her chief happi-
ness in being a devoted wife to the husband who had
given her a second existence of exceptional harmony.
Murphy who had been the man to introduce Johnson
to the Thrale's was the old friend for whom her liking
remained unimpaired and with whom she could enjoy
a talk about old times.

One passage in Thraliana enables me to make a
correction to previous writers. Johnson once made
an improvised paraphrase of some Italian verses by
Baretti : —

Long may live my lovely Hetty !

Always young and always pretty,
Always pretty, always young,

Live my lovely Hetty long !
Always young and always pretty
Long may live my lovely Hetty.

and both Hayward and Seeley have described these
verses as a compliment to Mrs. Thrale. Mrs. Piozzi
writes : —

"April 3rd. 1794. Who would dream of poor
Dr. Johnsons Verses in Praise of my eldest daughter

THRALIANA 55

when she was ten years old, done to divert Baretti by

anglicizing his song at the end of the Baby Dialogues

— coming out now set to Music for the misses to

sing.

Long may live my lovely Hetty !

Always young and always pretty. &c. &c." *

In justice to Hayward and Seeley we must say
that in the " Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson " from which
the verses are quoted Mrs. Piozzi does not say in
whose honour they were composed. Now that we
know, we can easily see, as probably Hayward and
Seeley could have done, that internal evidence should
have told us at once that they were not meant for
Mrs. Thrale.

Boswell was constantly carping at Mrs. Piozzi's
accuracy and correcting her in trivial things. It is
curious to find that in 1 794 he had a great controversy
with Miss Seward in reference to some early verses of
Johnson's about a Sprig of Myrtle. Strange to say
Boswell in this controversy was maintaining the
accuracy of Mrs. Piozzi's account of the origin

* Hayward says she made a note for Sir James Fellowes in 1816, "I
heard these verses sung at Mrs Thomas's by three voices not three weeks
ago.

S6 THRALIANA

of these verses. Yet we find this passage in
Thraliana.

" Mr. Boswell and Miss Seward are good Antago-
nists for each other made on purpose one would
think, I wonder which will have the last word about
poor dear old Johnson's Sprig of Myrtle. Boswell's
Cause is best certainly but his opponent out-writes
him. Miss Seward has ten times his Power" Boswell
had committed the unpardonable sin of writing with
want of respect about Piozzi and adopting Johnson's
attitude of reprobation about the Piozzi marriage.

Mrs. Piozzi having lived so many years with an
Italian Artist and travelled in Italy in his company
knew Italian ways as few Englishwomen did, and yet
kept her English point of view. The following
passages concern matters about which people in the
Eighteenth Century wrote more freely than we do,
and both of them have a biographical value. The
first relates to " Henry IX." the last of the Stuarts,
and the second to a Lady artist the wife of a famous
painter.

" I might have heard similar stories (to the tales in
Suetonius about the Roman Emperors) in Italy all

THRALIANA SI

day, had I not hated lewd Conversations as I do.
Old Cardinal de York kept a Catamite publicly at
Rome while I was there, tho' a Man of the best
character possible for Piety and Charity with which
as a Person said to me that Vice has nothing to do.
They consider it as mere matter of Taste.

When Mrs. Cosway ran madding all over Europe
after a Castrato leaving her husband and new born
baby at Home here ; she was praying at every Altar
and fasting vigorously all the time, a hypocritical
Hussy say the people. Not at all. Her Faith is not
influenced by her Actions I suppose : she was well
persuaded of Heavenly Truths altho' a Prey to almost
infernal passions or Appetites strangely depraved.
Her taking the veil at Genoa after all corroborates
my opinion of her Piety. Had I been Abbess tho'
& known her Character she should not have set her
foot in my Convent, The Nun's Morality would be
endangered by such a Companion. [Side-note of
Mrs, Piozzi's] She went en Pension She did not take
the Veil.

Mrs. Piozzi's books " Anecdotes of Johnson "
(1786) and "Letters to and from Johnson" (1788)

H

58 THRALIANA

were both very successful, for the public or rather
" Society " interest in Johnson lasted for many years
after his death. Her account of her Italian Journey
(1789) is lively and brightly written and very much
more readable today than most eighteenth century
books of Continental Travel. These two Volumes
compare very favourably indeed with the four
Volumes of Travels by her old enemy Baretti which
were so extravagantly over-praised by Johnson and
for which Baretti received ^500 from the Book-
sellers. These books were written because Mrs. Piozzi
had something to say. She had things to relate
which nobody else could know, and she told her
story in a headlong lively manner that is a near
approach to the familiarity of conversation, and has
absolutely no relation to the stiff dignity of Johnson's
prose style.

I am glad to notice that Sir Walter Raleigh in his
chapter on "Johnson without Boswell " says of Mrs.
Piozzi : — " It is impossible to read the Anecdotes
without falling under the spell of her easy irresponsible
charm " and the essential truth of her picture of
Johnson is not vitiated by unimportant errors of

THRALIANA 59

detail brought into an undue prominence by the
genius of Boswell. But Mrs. Piozzi's later literary
career is not so fortunate. Her " British Synonimy"
produced in 1794 and sold by the mediation of
Murphy and the repute of her former books for
£S°° was in no way a success though it was not
without some amusing passages.*

As for her last work, she relates in Thraliana that
when she came to London in 1801 with the MS. of
two folio Volumes " Retrospection, or a Review of
the most striking and important Events, Characters,
Situations and their Consequences which the last
Eighteen Hundred Years have presented to the View
of Mankind " she found the publishers quite resolved
not to pay for such a book. She was glad to come
to terms with Mr. John Stockdale of Piccadilly on
the terms that " Stockdale bears me harmless of
Expense and then we share the Profits, which will
be none." She adds the further remark " My Bar-
gain with Stockdale pleased nobody I think" — My
interest in Mrs. Piozzi has induced me to buy these

* I recently picked up a Paris edition, published in 1 804 by Parsons and
Galignani — which I have not seen noticed elsewhere.

H2

6o THRALIANA

two folio Volumes, and I may say that in the later
part of the second Volume her comments on the
extraordinary events of her own time have some
human and almost historical interest though they
are very awkwardly expressed. This is the best I
can say of them.

With regard to Thraliana I should like to adopt
the phrase of Prof. Raleigh and to say that in the
reading of it I have fallen under the spell of Mrs.
Piozzi's easy irresponsible charm. The specimens I
have given may or may not bring this home to those
who have not had the privilege of dipping into
Thraliana for themselves and reading in her own
handwriting the sincere and private records of a
remarkable woman. Sometimes it is so intimate that
one feels as if " profaning the mysteries of the Bona
Dea" to use a convenient phrase employed by Lord
Beaconsfield. The full flavour can only be obtained
by a full perusal. It is a veracious document, the
real thing, the genuine article. My endeavour has
been to give fair samples, not to expurgate unduly,
and to try to convey to others the historical, literary
and human charm of " Thraliana."

Dates in the Life of Mrs. Piozzi.

1 74 1. Hester Lynch Salusbury born — Jany. 27 —
daughter of John Salusbury of Bachycraig.

1762. Death of her father.

1763. Her marriage to Henry Thrale brewer of

Southwark and Streatham.

1764. Birth of her eldest daughter Hester afterwards

Lady Keith. She bore Thrale twelve child-
ren in all.

1765. First introduction to Johnson. Thrale M.P.

for Southwark.

1766. Johnson became domesticated at Streatham,

and spent henceforth much of his time
there, usually the middle of the weeks,
returning to his London House on Saturday
evenings.

62 THRALIANA

1769. Boswell's first visit to Streatham.

1773. Death of Mrs. Thrale's mother.

1774. Tour in Wales of the Thrales and Dr. John-

son. On their return they visit Burke at
Beaconsfield.

1775. In September Mr. and Mrs. Thrale with their

eldest daughter and Johnson and Baretti
visit France. Eight weeks abroad.

1776. Death of the Thrale's eldest son, a boy often.

1778. First visit of Fanny Burney (Madam d'Arblay)
to Streatham.

1780. Gordon riots. Thrale loses his seat for

Streatham. First acquaintance with Piozzi.

1 78 1. Death of Thrale. Sale of the brewery.

1782. Streatham house let to Lord Shelburne.

1783. Piozzi sent to Italy. Mrs, Thrale retires to

Bath.

1784. Marriage to Piozzi. Departure of Mr. and

Mrs. Piozzi for Italy. Death of Johnson,
Dec. 13th.

THRALIANA 63

1787. Mr. and Mrs. Piozzi return to England.

1790. The Piozzis go to live at the old house at
Streatham.

1795. They leave Streatham for North Wales to live
on Mrs. Piozzi's ancestral estate.

1 809, Death of Piozzi.

1821. Death of Mrs. Piozzi in May. She left his
Welsh property to Piozzi's nephew who
took the name of Salusbury.

GLASUOW : PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BV ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO, LTD,

[Out of Print.] London, 1903

Shakespeare's Europe

UNPUBLISHED CHAPTERS OF

FYNES MORYSON'S ITINERARY

With an Introduction and an account of Fynes Moryson's Career

BY

CHARLES HUGHES

English Historical Review, Oct., 1903 (by Prof, C. H. Firth). — " Mr. Hughes
is to be congratulated on the publication of such an interesting and valuable
manuscript as this is. It is curious that it should have Iain so long unedited
in the library of an Oxford College. He has prefixed to it an account of Fynes
Moryson's life, which contains many new details, gives a copy of his will, and
fixes for the first time the exact date of bis death."

Saturday Review. — " Mr. Hughes has performed his duties excellently.
He has written a clear and succinct preface in which, with no little learning,
he has gleaned all the available information as to the author Fynes Moryson,
particularly those facts which help the reader to understand the book."

Athenesum. — " The preface is a model of painstaking. Every fact of
Moryson's life is brought out and verified, and Mr. Hughes has been fortunate
in obtaining many new ones."

Shakespeare Jahrbuch, 1904 (by Dr. Alovs Brandl). — " Das Buch ist —
nebenbei bemerkt — eine Fundgrube fur den deutschen Kultur-historiker,
handelt fiber die grosse Verehrung Luthers und Melanchtons, stadische und
studentische Sitten, Kaiser Rudolf und die Juden in Prag usw."

The late Rt. Hon. W. E. H. Lecky wrote to Mr. Hughes of what he termed
" your valuable and most interesting book." " It is sure to furnish much
material to future historians, and seems to me excellently edited. I have
already read a good deal in it with keen interest."

London, 1 904

WiLLOBiE His Avisa

A Shakespearian Enigma

WITH AN ESSAY TOWARDS ITS INTERPRETATION BY

CHARLES HUGHES

Mr. Swinburne, to whom the book was dedicated, wrote : — "I have read
your introduction most carefully, and with the greatest interest. ... I
congratulate you on the new light you have thrown on an equally bewildering
and interesting subject."

M. JussERAND wrote : — " As soon as the book was announced I had ordered
a copy, read it pen in hand, admired the ingenuity of the writer, and felt
grateful to him for the service rendered by him to Literature."

Saturday Review. — ' ' That the enigma presented by this poem is a tantalising
one everyone must admit, and it is not surprising that conjecture should have
been busy with it. We will say at once that Mr. Hughes' attempt to solve it
is one of the most ingenious and masterly examples of constructive criticism
that we ever remember to have met with.

Shakespeare- J ahrbuch (by Dr. Aloys Brandl). — " Er is durchaus
kritisch gegen die eigenen Funde. Wenn er sie trotzdem mitteilt, und durch
Mancherlei andere MogUchkeiten zu stutzen trachtet, so tut er es offenbar,
um uns fur das Prinzip einer Realdeutung zu gewinnen."

Manchester Guardian (by Prof. C. H. Herford). — " Mr. Hughes has
spared no cost of time and labour in pursuing to the utmost limit all the
avenues and bypaths of exploration suggested by an acute and fertile brain."

Pall Mall Gazette. — " Mr. Charles Hughes, the editor, has tracked down a
deal of the allusion in the poem, by touring and research in the West Country,
and ingeniously identifies the heroine. His introductory essay is written with
precision and minute knowledge, historical sympathy and power of exposition."

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1906
Tudor and Stuart Series. 5/- net

The Defence of the Realme

BY

SIR HENRY KNYVETT, 1596

Now for the first time printed from a MS. in the Chetham Library, Manchester

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

CHARLES HUGHES

spectator. — " The book as a whole is exceedingly interesting as well as
curious, and Mr. Hughes deserves the gratitude of students not only of history
but of military science for his discovery of Sir Henry Knyvett's pamphlet."

Saturday Review. — " This is a curious and interesting old pamphlet which
has never before been printed. . . . The editor gives some notes on the career
of Sir Henry Knyvett, about whom the ' Dictionary of National Biography '
has nothing to say."

Morning Post (by Spenser Wilkinson). — " Knyvett's paper is quite as
well worth reading, and quite as instructive as any of the modern Prize Essays.
. . . The volume, which will deUght all book-lovers and students of Elizabethan
literature, should be read by all who take an interest in questions of national
defence to whatever school of thought they may belong."

American Historical Review. — " Knyvett was prompted to write this tract
by the capture of Calais from the French by the Spaniards on April 17, 1590,
and the consequent fear in England of a Spanish invasion. . . . With respect
to the danger of invasion England's situation then was essentially the same
as now."

Daily Mail. — " Knyvett's question was : Supposing that a hostile fleet
were to effect a landing, was the army sufficient for defence ? His suggestion
was that there should be a general organization of the male population for
defensive purposes."

Nation (New York). — " In it Knyvett sets forth, with the authority of his
long experience, his views as to the best way to muster, train, equip, and
handle an army to beat off the invasion."

Manchester Courier. — " The reprint of Knyvett's treatise is valuable alike
as a literary curiosity of great interest, and still more as embodying the wise
forethought of a skilled soldier and good citizen."